WALES have been given a stark warning ahead of their daunting Test against world champions Australia in Sydney on Saturday - don't make mistakes or you will be punished.

The advice for Steve Hansen and his men came from the Ireland camp following their comprehensive 45-16 mauling at the hands of Australia in Perth at the weekend.

Ireland went into the game on the back of 10 victories in their last 11 Tests, but they were blown away by the Wallabies, who capitalised on some generous Irish defending to rack up a healthy victory and send a clear message of intent to Wales.

"It is going to be a very big challenge for Wales and the only thing I could say to them is don't make the same mistakes we did because against a side with the quality of Australia thy will make you pay for them," said Ireland skipper David Humphreys.

"You have to secure the ball and, if Wales can do that, then I think they could cause them problems out wide with the pace they have in their backline.

"But it is going to take a huge effort up front if they are going to turn Australia over."

His message was backed up by Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan, who was disappointed at the way his side had handed the Wallabies so many tries as a result of soft tackling or handling errors and admitted that his side had been given a harsh lesson by their hosts.

"Wales must keep their unforced errors down to a minimum, have a good solid set-piece game, keep a hold of the ball and run at them, but someone like Steve Hansen will know that well enough already," he said.

"They were very physical with us and forced us to make a number of mistakes they capitalised on.

"They are obviously that much fresher than the northern hemisphere teams because they are at the start of their season whereas we are at the end of a long, tiring season. But that is always going to be the bugbear for us going to the southern hemisphere in the summer and the same for them in November.

"Despite recent results, I honestly believe Wales are a very good rugby side with a very good coach and came very close to turning us over in Cardiff in the Six Nations.

"They just need to be in the right mind-set when they play Australia, if they are then I think they can do well."

Discipline will also be a crucial factor when Wales take on Australia, a point proved by the manner in which they punished Ireland when reduced to 14 men.

The Wallabies killed off the game as they racked up 18 points while Irish full-back Girvan Dempsey was sitting in the sin-bin for deliberately killing the ball under his own goalposts in the 51st minute.

"We had done well to get ourselves in a good position at half-time when we were only a point behind but the yellow card was crucial," said O'Sullivan.